In the Third Plenary Session of the five session of the twelve National People's Congress dated March 12, the president of the Supreme People's court and the procurator general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate delivered 2016 annual work report.
In this year, judicial interpretation of patent disputes was formulated. Intellectual property courts of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou explored the application of punitive damages, making efforts to increase infringement costs and reduce right-protection costs. Intellectual Property Tribunals were set up in Nanjing, Suzhou, Wuhan and Chengdu, realizing cross-regional management of IP cases. Courts at all levels concluded 147 thousand first-instance IP cases, prosecuting 21505 people for offence related to IP infringement. In 29 regions including Hubei, Yunnan and Ningxia, the officials intensified administrative law enforcement to combat infringement and counterfeiting and established criminal justice information sharing platform.
(Source: People's Daily Online)